November 25, 2014

• Life & Stuff

  It's been awhile since I did a life update blog. I've spent a lot of time in the past few months working on my dad's memoir, and on Halloween day I finished typing up and published my Mom's poetry. I Remember: Poems About Life can be found at lulu.com and is a memoir in verse of a childhood spent in devastating poverty and back-breaking labor in the cotton fields of Arizona and Arkansas.

  

  The last few poems deal with Mom's struggles as the mother of five boisterous children, her bouts of depression and thoughts of death. You would think this book would ooze sadness, but it is surprisingly uplifting. All proceeds from the sale of both this book and Dad's memoir will go toward Mom's care.

  I had a list of things to get done today and I haven't accomplished any of them yet, but it was a productive day nonetheless. My lovely daughter called this morning; she wasn't feeling well, was just leaving the doctor's office and needed some Mom time. She came over and I took her to the pharmacy to pick up her prescription, ran by her apartment to pick up her dog, and came back to my place where I put her to work. Not strenuous work, but something that's been on my to-do list for about ten years and I didn't want to waste the opportunity to get it done.

  When we moved into this house more than 22 years ago, there were nails in the walls of the living room and I hung our pictures on them thinking, "I'll move everything around once all the boxes are unpacked." About twelve years later, I convinced Krysten to help me take everything off the walls, pull out all the nails so I wouldn't be tempted to rehang stuff in the same place, and rehang the pictures in a more pleasing arrangement. A few months later, I rearranged the furniture and the stuff on the walls was off balance again.

  Today we repeated what we did ten years ago. Everything came off the walls, the nails came out, I brought down a couple of framed photos from upstairs and pulled out some framed prints I've been meaning to hang. We pulled the furniture away from the walls, put the artwork on the floor in various arrangements and rehung it. It's really weird to sit on the couch and look at the Renoir prints and the sketch of Paris across the room. It's a good weird, though. The room feels balanced again. It must be almost time to rearrange the furniture.

  While we were busy in the living room, Krysten's dog Jack and my Boo were playing rough and getting underfoot, so we put Jack in the kitchen with a baby gate to keep him out of the living room. He ripped through on of Boo's ghost toys. It has joined the pile of toys above the washing machine waiting for me to replace the stuffing and sew up the rips. There may be a liberated squeaker that needs to be repatriated as well. I'll be glad when Jack gets past the puppy chewing phase.

  Wednesday will be spent doing all the stuff I didn't get to today. First on the list: pie dough. At some point before I go to bed, I'll make the pies and get some of the other dishes started. We'll eat our feast at noon on Thursday, then go to a movie. We'll thank every theater employee with whom we come in contact for working on Thanksgiving so we can enjoy our tradition of a Thanksgiving movie.

  On Friday, Brett and Krysten will make their annual foray into the Black Friday madness, where they will look at all the "great deals" in the stores, check them against amazon.com and come home without spending any money, but with a better idea of what they want to order online. I will most likely stay home on Friday, unless Val or Dan want to get together in Indiana for a little geocaching. I was hoping to have Val's scarf finished by now. Maybe, if I really work hard and skip the blocking, I can get it finished by Friday.

  Saturday will be our usual activities. Sunday is the annual Messiah sing-along in Kalamazoo. We look forward to that all year. Which reminds me that Brett and I haven't practiced in the past week. We need to sing through the choruses a couple more times before Sunday. Especially Brett; he's switching from tenor to bass this year. We've been going to the singalong since they began it in 1995, missing only one year when Krysten had a college band concert on the same day.

  My joints have been very painful lately and the arthritis medication I take has been causing constant heartburn and indigestion.  Getting old is not for sissies. I try to focus on what I can still do, like typing, rather than what I've lost, like playing the piano.

  Okay, it's bedtime and I can't think of much more to write about. Consider yourself updated. If I don't make it back on here before Thanksgiving, have a good one!

  • 11:46 pm
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